Equinox
by I'm In Like With You
Summary: Bella is the vampire, Edward is the human, everything else is the same. My first fanfic!
1. Chapter 1: First Sight

**Equinox: Chapter One- First Sight, EPOV**

"Okay, now go to the _Coda_… Good! Good!" My piano instructor, Mrs. Crowley, chimed. As my fingers slid across the keys, just finishing an ancient song: "The Waltz", Mrs. Crowley clapped. She always asked her students to call her Sherry, her first name, because apparently 'Mrs. Crowley' made her sound old… I don't get that about women…

I'd recently moved to Forks, Washington from my old home in Chicago, Illinois- everything here is so GREEN! It's not natural, please don't kill me hippies. It's my opinion, I loved Chicago… Here?

Not so much.

About an hour and a half later I checked the clock, '6:45'. _Sherry_ had gone home and my family- my father, Charlie, and me- were having pizza and watching a basketball game with Who-Knows-Who against I-Don't-Really-Care. I guess that Who-Knows-Who was winning and they were in blue… I-Don't-Really-Care was in black and I think they had 24, but that's all I'd gathered from the… 2 quarters (I think?) we'd been watching. Sports were so confusing!

Why was I in such a predicament? My mother- Renee- had left 3 years earlier. (**AN: You know the rest so yada yada yada, let's get to the juicy stuff****)**

My alarm beeped… my alarm beeped again… it beeped a third time, I groggily opened my eyes to look at it, '6:45'. Weird, It beeped a- I slapped my hand onto the clock and it finally stopped. And then I thought- 6:45… why does that sound familiar?

"Wake up Edward!!" Charlie shouted, he didn't mind me calling him Charlie, I was almost 18.

"Ha! Clock got me first!" I stood up and wandered toward the dresser, I picked a random shirt, random pants and socks.

Thirty minutes later, I was at school and munching on a donut I'd bought at Casey's. Suddenly, a bright red, sleek convertible, WITH IT'S TOP DOWN(!!) drove up. I checked my phone, 'Tues. 23, January' and shook my head "Those people are crazy" I mumbled.

And then I saw the people inside the car.

I could feel my mouth dropping. A blonde who looked like she should be on a runway, not a school parking lot, stepped out first, from the driver's seat, score! A huge, buff guy, easily 6 feet maybe 7 came out from shot gun… and then wrapped his arms around her, no score…. Next a blond dude came out- he looked like he was in serious pain, he came out with a pixie-chick- again, no score!

There was one last person who stepped out. Long brown hair, ripped jeans, navy blue shirt, white jacket, converse sneakers, absolutely beautiful, no- not just beautiful but gorgeous, stunning, striking, over-the-top attractive.

Pixie-Chick glanced at me but looked away one second later, I couldn't tell if I imagined it or not, then whispered something to Brown-Hair-Hottie, and then she looked at me. Electricity sparked between us- so strong that it was almost visible. It was like a staring-contest… I won, Pixie-Chick had tapped Brown-Hair-Hottie and she looked away. I had this strange feeling that she would blush, but she couldn't; so I did it for her, thank God that she wasn't looking.

History, Gym, and Chemistry AP dragged on and on, and then finally- at 12:30 Miss Meyer dismissed us for lunch.

Tyler Crowley, Sherry's son, had invited me to lunch to apologize over and over for his mom's, um... extremely weird I-think-I'm-totally-hip-but-actually-I-just-freak-people-out behavior. So I said: "Dude, I'm used to it," And then shuddered.

Find Common Ground with Random Person, check.

A few minutes later, after about half my sub sandwich was gone, THEY walked in- Blondie was first and it went in the same order as early morning. They all made the eww-bad-food face. I looked at my sub, Pepsi, apple, and ice cream then shrugged; it looked like perfectly fine food to me.

"Yo," Miles? Mick? Oh! Mike. I remembered his name. "Saw you staring at the Cullens" He gestured to the 5 supermodel-like people "just moved here from Alaska 2 years ago, their dad's a doctor uptown."

"Names?" I press.

"Blondie is Rosalie; her boyfriend is Emmett- the scary dude. Shorty: her name's Alice; Jasper's with her. The brownie" It didn't surprise me that he had the same longing that I'd probably have in my voice if I talked about her. "Is Bella..."I had to snap in his face to get him to come out of Little La-La Land. "Whoa!"He chuckled nervously "Heh Heh, sorry- but she doesn't date and…" The bell rang. "Tell you later!" we walked to class together- ends up we both have biology together.

I gave my slip thing to the teacher and he signed it, he couldn't find his stupid pen and when he'd finally signed the paper, the rest of the 14 people had sat down and were either staring at us or chatting with the people they were sitting by.

I am happy/nervous to inform you that the only other seat was next to none other than Bella Cullen.

I walked down the aisle to the seat next to her. "Hi, I'm Edward, and you are…" I decided to play stupid- I wanted to hear her voice. She looked at me with death-glare eyes and stiffened up. Shy much? I smiled at her, hoping to probe an answer out of her.

"Bella, Bella Cullen." She said simply then looked away. I'm afraid I can't. I'm frozen on the spot- enchanted by her bell-like voice, I was sifting through my mind and looking for a compliment then putting it on my tongue "Your name suits you", "You have a beautiful voice" and others flashed though my mind, though I couldn't conjure a whisper. So all I could do was close my mouth and get out my textbook so I wouldn't look like a COMPLETE idiot.

"Okay class, go to page 74 and read about the cells in your body!" Mr. Banner drones. Spanish next.

Spanish finishes, now it's my Relaxation/homework time.

**Equinox: Chapter One- First Sight, BPOV**

I spent all night doing my homework, and then I did my hair, picked out my favorite shirt- a navy blue blouse.

Not that I care. I'm a vampire. I don't sleep.

Time just flew by; soon I was in Rose's red convertible. And sooner afterward, I'm at school staring into beautiful forest green eyes. Alice whispered "Ooh! I see…" her eyes go blank, and then she gasps, "You like him, don't you!" she tapped my shoulder and I was forced to look away, so I turn my head down- it's a force of habit, I used to blush a lot.

"What!" I hissed. There isn't an answer; the bell rang a millisecond after my question.

Government, trig, and history creep by, like a turtle stuck in peanut butter. Mrs. Anderson dismissed us to lunch, after giving a lifetime-long lecture about 'the importance of Cavemen'.

At lunch my crew was a few minutes late, subs for lunch. Yuck.

I overheard a conversation from a desperate boy named Mike, and Edward, the new kid.

"Yo, saw you staring at the Cullens" Mike gestured to us and I looked at the salad on my plate. "Just moved here from Alaska 2 years ago, their dad's a doctor uptown."

"Names?" Edward asks. I was frozen. We'd just sat down. He voice is smooth as silk and heart stopping, although that doesn't affect me.

Mike goes through our names and, like always, his voice has the weird tone that can only be labeled adoration. I rolled my eyes when Edward had to snap in Mike's face to get him out of his… fantasy.

Soon after, I'm in biology, when I step in Edward's talking to the teacher- probably getting his slip signed. I sat in the back of the room, five minutes later he walked to my table, my eyes flick around- what? No other tables?

And then I could smell him.

His scent is so sweet, like a mix of freesia, orange, sunlight… I tried every combination I can think of- but nothing compares.

"Hi, I'm Edward, and you are…" great! I can tell he's playing stupid. I can't help but I stiffen and fix him with a stare. He smiles, and probably thinks I'm demented now….

"Bella, Bella Cullen" I can see him freeze. I'm smiling- almost giddy- inside, it's usually nice when you see someone enchanted by you, especially someone you like. He simply got his books out and got ready for the lesson. Mr. Banner probably said something stupid, but all I can deduce is that its page 74, cells ooh, exciting… heavy, heavy sarcasm.

Gym next- blah! I have to pretend I'm slow-footed and dumb, uncoordinated, and clumsy, as I said before: blah!

Thank God gym went by a speed of under what-seems-like-an-hour to a minute.

Soon I'm at home- 3:15, school let out at 3:00, with my essay on the body-cells, Spanish worksheet, and two trig pages all done, whew- that was hard! I worked for five whole minutes!

Carlisle, Alice, Jasper, and Rosalie are out hunting- me, Esme, and Emmett went hunting on the weekend, we don't need to. Emmett was pumped about a random basketball game last night when the team in blue had won 49 to 36. Or something like that.

I just go to the touch screen computer and plan out tomorrow's outfit. Wow Tuesday night and nothing to do. Big bummer.

I simply lounge around for the next 15 hours.


	2. Chapter 2: Gone

**Equinox: Chapter Two- Leaving, BPOV**

Alice whined yet again, she'd just rushed home from hunting, dragging the rest of my family with her; "But Bella!!! You can't go!!!" She just had a vision of me leaving to Tanya's clan for about a week, why would I- hey! That's a good idea.

"Alice, seriously, _chill_, I'll only be gone for a few days!" There's something going on in her eyes- they have a sort of sad hint but an expectation, too. "…Yes you may pack my clothes…" I scowled.

Yes she's a vampire. Yes she has quite a one-track mind.

"Yay!! Thank you Bella I just got a new coat that would look PERFECT on you!"She squealed, all trace of poutiness gone.-Wait, did she just say…

"Well good for you, Alice, your vision has lengthened!" I totally change the subject, remember, one-track mind. She used to only be able to see things clearly, unless they were unavoidable- like a plague or something- about 2 days in advance, and our delivery company took 3 days to deliver.

"Yep, yep, yep!" she squealed. "Well, I gotta go- clothes don't pack themselves!" In a human's blink of the eye- she's upstairs.

Three seconds later, Rose walked in from the garage, grease on her new pants- Alice would not be happy about that. "Is it safe?" She mouthed, I nodded my head, and she smiled at me "It'll get easier after a while." She knew that I was having problems with what Alice now considered my _boyfriend_, Edward Cullen. Actually, everyone in the family knew… including Emmett- who made fun of me for it-, Esme-who tried to help me with it, which isn't bad-, and Jasper- he was actually helpful, too, he'd change the room's feeling. But when I'd walk out, it wasn't still there.

"Like you know- you've never resisted with Emmett." I teased. She knew what I was talking about, never resisted _except_ when she brought him back from the Appalachian Mountains, when he'd been mauled by a bear. She rolled her eyes and flipped her hair, her new favorite action.

I motioned for us to go to the garage, if I was expected to drive all the way to Alaska; I would need a good car, running's not bad- as I'm the fastest vampire in the family- but still, a girl's got to have style- oh my God-I'm turning into Alice! I had all those thoughts in less than two seconds, while we were walking to the garage.

"Car update?" Rose asked, I nodded. "'Kay, I'll be only about five minutes." I nodded again.

"Hey, can you give it a new paint-job? You know subtle gray and"

Suddenly a scream from upstairs attracted my attention. "I LOVE your new car Bells!" Alice… of course. I rolled my eyes the same time Rose did.

"…Why don't you ask Alice- I'll bet she knows…" I growled. I heard a tinkly laugh, again, from upstairs. I waited a few moments, "a subtle gray and kind of buffed so it looks mysterious" I cocked my eyebrows on 'mysterious', and Rose chuckled, she's already under my car and metal is clinking. "Well, see what ya can do." And I walked out.

A few minutes later, I checked my watch; it's been almost five minutes "Done!" Rose said.

"Just in time," I smirked.

From Alice's squealing to Rose's awesoming-up my car to now, it's been about a half an hour and I just passed a sign that said:

"Juneau, Alaska: 130 Miles,

Denali, Alaska 32 miles" (**AN: The miles were totally estimated- please don't give me grief if I got it 500 miles off**) good, about five more minutes.

About five minutes later, Tanya was greeting me and praising my clothes. "Wow, I love your shir- Alice picked them out." No question about it, she chuckled.

I smiled and shrugged- we both knew that my style was zero, zilch, nothing.

We had so much fun, Tanya's family stayed home and we had races- I won all of them-, went hunting together- my favorite animal was an Arctic/Normal Fox-, and just randomly had fun whenever the chance presented itself.

I came back to Forks on Sunday, 1 February; over-brimming with happiness. And then I realized I had school tomorrow- BLAH!

I decided the next morning, while Alice and Rose were playing 'Barbie Bella' with me that I would-

"You're finally going to talk to him!?" Alice shrieked, Rose chuckled, and I groaned/rolled my eyes- all without breaking stride of Rose's making my face look like I was alive, and Alice's slightly curling my hair, so my hair looked (again) like it was alive.

"Yes, I guess I could…" I was having second thoughts, now- Alice always made me a bit jumpy.

"Okay, he'll come up to you and ask you what happened, ya know- you were gone for"

"Yes! I know, I know!"

"Okay okay, well, yeah- so then you'll say something like 'Um, I was sick,' he won't really buy it but then he'll change the subject and you'll ask him random questions about his life in Chicago." She shrugged on the last part, but I thought it was kind of romantic.

**Equinox: Chapter 2- Gone, EPOV**

Bella was gone. I looked for her every day, my and Mike's head flipping the same way from Tuesday to Friday, at the same table, at the same spot until Tyler or Eric (finally, names were beginning to set in) snapped in our faces. "Heh, heh." We'd always chuckle. It became a routine.

Every day, I wouldn't rest, I would scout around- looking for the red convertible, looking in class, looking after school; you get the picture- until the bell rang- definitely NOT saving me.

That all changed on Monday- it was finally not a drag, first day of the week, all the new pretests (the ones where your teacher finds out how much you know on the subject), oh no- this Monday was not like that, this was the day that I saw Bella.

Sure call me a stalker but I don't care, I watched her all through lunch but, when one of the other people at the table looked I shoved… whatever I was eating, down my throat and looked at my plate.

Though it took way too long, I was walking down the aisle to my seat, ended up that Bella and I were partners for the rest of the year, I was actually quite happy about that.

Confident, be confident! "Hey, Bella, where were you, the past couple of days?"

"Um, I was sick," She said, I'll have to admit it was quite unconvincing.

"Well, you're not a very good liar." Say it straight up. She looked down and fiddled with her hair, ha! Gotcha!

"Well, erm, I just went to see some relatives."

"Oh, well, okay." Confidence! Confidence! "So, you come from Alaska?" I gathered as much info on Alaska I could think of in the next two seconds, "Close to here?" I wasn't sure if any of the information was relevant.

"Uh, well Denali, if you consider that close…"

"Is that where your relatives live?"

"Yeah, actually. But, what about you, were any of your relatives living in Chicago?"

"Nah, my only relatives are my grandmother and grandfather (**AN: Phil and Renee aren't married yet**), and they live on a farm in Iowa." I answered

"Oh, well, where's your mom?"

"Either Phoenix, Arizona or San Diego" I proceeded to tell her about my life in the form of Q and A, until we had to go to page 92, animal's cells. Spanish next.

Pretty much the same thing as every night, homework/relaxation.

When I finally got to biology the next day, questions, questions, questions were asked, that became a routine, too.

Things like 'Did you live in downtown Chicago, or by the lake?' or 'Did you live with your mom or dad, in Chicago?' and other various questions were asked day after day, occasionally I would ask a question and she would answer- but it would always turn back to me-,I didn't mind, in fact, I quite enjoyed her questions, I got to hear her voice, while she got to know more about me, I'd never thought my life was that interesting.

After a while, Mike sort of caught on. When he was staring at his food, not Bella, one day in lunch, I noticed someone looking at him, "Mike, dude- I think that Jessica girl's checking you out." I motioned to her, in case I got the name wrong.

"Her? Nah, I don't think so." I shrugged, but I did notice Mike giving a few more looks to that table, of course.

* * *

**Hi! First fanfic, Second Chapter!**

…**Reviews make me happy!**

**Next chapter will not go by the book, it will be various day including Feb. 14, and you know what that means! **


	3. Chapter 3: Valentine's Day

**Equinox: Chapter Three- Valentine's Day, EPOV**

I woke up just after 6:30, did my morning "duties", such as picking out clothes, taking a shower, and last but not least, crossing off the day on my calendar. I'll have to say I was sort of surprised that I was crossing off 'Mon. Feb. 14'. Suddenly a thought crossed my mind and in one second I'd made a promise to myself:

Ask Bella Cullen On a Date.

Split decision, yes. Was I going to go through with it? Maybe, maybe not. Knowing myself, I wasn't anywhere near a jock-type overly-confident guy; so I'd probably chicken out at the last second.

I went downstairs to get breakfast, probably cereal or something, when I saw a message on the phone. I was genuinely surprised when the message was from Charlie. "Hey sport, um… well we got a case up in Port Angeles, some crazies tried to rob a bank and ended up injuring four other people. So I'll probably be a little late. Don't wait for me- there's a number for a restaurant delivery on the counter or pizza in the freezer. See you around nine or so." The message was abruptly cut off. Charlie was never a man of many words, or telephone abilities.

Oddly, the school day went by so fast, it was like a blur, whooshing by me. I was surprised to find myself in the lunchroom pep-talking to myself about asking Bella. I remembered, from a recent newscast, that it was supposed to be relatively warm and quite sunny for Forks on Saturday.

Too soon I was sitting by Bella, hmm… last time I checked her eyes they were a chocolate-y brown, but now they were coal black- it was kind of weird, but I shook it off, she gulped. "Hi, Bella," I started, she looked at me with mild surprise- it wasn't uncommon for us to talk, now, just not exactly common, either. "Um, so I was wondering if you wanted to goonadatewithme?" the last words come in a rush and she looked quite confused. "Erm, well, it's sunny this Saturday and I wondered if you wanted to do something together…?" I explained myself more fully and she opened her mouth to speak….

**Equinox: Chapter 3- Valentine's Day, BPOV**

Edward came up to sit by me, I couldn't believe I'd never noticed his scent before; I mean, I'd never been hungry around him, always keeping my thirst in check- actually I'd never noticed his scent, until now. A sugary, tangy, almost irresistible scent coming off him, I could tell in one millisecond, that he was my _la tua cantante,_ as they called it in Italy, my Blood Singer. I gulped, swallowing down the evil venom that threatened to end the innocent boy's life beside me. "Hi Bella," he said, I guess it wasn't… _not_ uncommon for us to talk, but that doesn't mean it actually _was _common_._ I looked at him, hoping that I looked more politely curious than surprised. He was obviously very nervous. "Um, so I was wondering if you wanted to goonadatewithme?" I got most of it, but not the last part- even with my hearing I couldn't tell, which is saying something. "Erm, well, it's sunny this Saturday and I wondered if you wanted to do something together…?" Oh no!! How badly I wanted to say yes!! But my family was going on a hunting trip this weekend and we'd be in Canada for the majority of Saturday and Sunday.

I made quite a mistake, I took a large breath so I could talk, my throat burned like Hell, unbearable- suddenly many, many ways to kill him were flooding into my mind, it was like the show '1000 Ways To Die' except sped up and to one person. The person sitting by me. Edward. Although all this happened I remembered the conversation, images still running through my head. "No, I'm sorry. I'd really like to but we have a family thing in Canada…" I apologized. Yes, the thoughts happened, but I still thought he was really nice and I was bound and determined to be nice back to him.

With that he mumbled "Your family must sure be close." I brushed it off because I knew he didn't think I'd be able to hear him.

The rest of the class went by awkward and slow, I was almost grateful to leave for gym, and I was out as soon as the bell rang.

Alice passed me in the hall with a giggle. "Dodgeball!" She whispered, she also gave me a we'll-talk-about-what-I-saw-later look. And I groaned softly.

In dodgeball, vampires should be unstoppable, but that would blow my cover and I would have to jump towards the speeding red "blur" instead of away from it.

"Okay! Who wants to be captain!?" Coach Clapp called, several hands shot up. "Crowley and Mike!" They immediately started calling boys names, along with the fit, athletic girls. When only about four of us were left, Jessica, Angela, me, and a bratty girl named Lauren, separated. It was routine- Angela and me, and Jessica and Lauren.

Surprisingly, Mike called my name first. Tyler called Jessica. And Angela and I grinned happily to each other when she came up. It was pretty hilarious to see Lauren all by herself. And when Tyler called her, smiling, some of the boys wolf-whistled or 'oohed'; the rest of us laughed as Lauren sneered at us.

"Okay! Get on your side, Mike here, Tyler over here!" Coach was standing on the middle line and gesturing to each side of her body. So we went to our respective sides. I "ran" up to get a ball and ended up being one of the first ones there, I smiled and grabbed a ball. Then, when Coach C. blew her whistle I launched it at Lauren, I could feel _everyone _staring- I never threw the ball, except now I felt different, better I guess, because Edward felt the same way about me- only to a much more minimum level- but sort of bad because I had to turn him down. I intended to take my bad feelings out on Lauren. Only a fraction of them, obviously.

The ball hurled toward her, in - again - a fraction of the top speed I could go. It hit her "THWACK" in the stomach; we all cracked up because, although she should be screaming in pain, she was hurling curses at me because I broke her nail. My entire team high-fived me, and Mike congratulated me.

"Hey, nice that was a great shot; I knew I did something right by picking you." He was shooting me a flirty glance. Ugh! Not that again. I'd turned him down in my first month in Forks... 2 years ago.

"Thanks, but 'no' means 'no', Mike!" and I focused on the game.

About one hour later, I was home and Alice was interrogating me, "You were going to KILL him! Bella, WHY!?" For a vampire she was very loud. I heard a chuckle- from Emmett, of course, downstairs, our heads flicked in the same direction, at the same time. Suddenly she chuckled a dark chuckle, probably from the future. One-track mind.

Alice came back to her original topic, not giving me time to react from her last question. "Luring, sneaking…" she listed about ten more ideas that had formed in my head, me wincing at each one.

"-Okay! Alice, I think _we_ get it." I accentuated 'we' because I knew Emmett was listening. "I- it was his blood… he's my blood singer…" I mumbled the last part- I knew Alice would hear.

"Huh? I didn't hear that last part." She smiled at me and put her hand behind her ear.

"I- I think Edward's my bl-blood singer." I said forcefully, but I still managed to stumble on my words.

"I knew it! I knew it!" Alice sang, but I could hear my mother and father rushing up to console me, and Alice was out of the room, but listening through the door. I made my mind up to start screaming at her if she didn't leave, so she would get the message.

Esme was hugging my shoulders and telling me that everything was going to be okay, and that it would get easier - just like Rosalie had been. Carlisle was patting my knee - I was sitting on a chair in Alice's room - and saying comforting words like "I know what you're going through," or "we'll get through this together," if I was any other teenager, I would have been rebellious, and ignore them - but since I knew Carlisle, he'd changed me, we'd been through so much; I knew to at least trust him. I nodded at each piece of advice he gave me.

This went on for about ten minutes, after which Carlisle got a call from the hospital; the nurse on the phone said that there were four people injured from a bank robbery. Wow, they must've been accident-prone, like me when I was a human. Esme continued consoling me until about 11:00, I gathered a lot of information, but I insisted that she should work on her new house plan after a while.

I spent the rest of the night doing homework and reminiscing on my foggy human memories.

**REVIEWS MAKE ME HAPPY, PEOPLE!!! C'mon, 2 chapters and only TWO reviews?! Awww, that's just sad. No more chapters until… 8 more reviews? Reviews aren't hard, and the make authors happy :) :). **

**Peace and Valentines to ya all!**


	4. Chapter 4: Dancing

**YAY! Woot woot, we **_**finally**_** got all ten reviews! Please enjoy this new chapter, exclusively on Fanfiction, seen on computers around the world! ;)**

**Equinox: Chapter 4-Parties, EPOV**I have issues with dancing. Dancing is just plain bad, people are strutting and bragging and wearing stiff tuxedoes that cost $1,000,000 per hour; not to mention that, while dancing I am a danger to others as well as myself. Too bad there was a dance in two Saturdays, it was girl's choice.

* * *

While I was wallowing about how I had to have come right before a school dance, my phone rang. "Hello?" "Hey Edward!"Mike and I said at the same time, sort of weird.

"Dude, the girl's choice dance is in two Saturdays." Wow. Weird again.

"Huh, too bad I was just thinking about it!"

"Oh, weird." he paused, "Just wanted to warn ya to do something stupid girls like, you know: a nice shirt or whatever." I laughed, I doubled over with laughing.

"Dude you sound a little too experienced in this." I guffawed again.

"I have an older sister, she's in college; she went here." You could almost see Mike pouting, "You gotta give me props for that."

"Yeah sure, whatever." I heard him swear, and I don't think it was from me.

"I'm late for the freaking bus! Erm, sorry gotta go!" I snapped my phone shut and continued to get ready for the morning.

I did take his advice, actually caring about what I wore, a green shirt and not-ripped jeans. My mom said green looked good on me; I didn't know why I cared because I'd probably bail at the last second; but in truth I kind of liked the shirt, too.

Again, too soon was I in the parking lot, leaning against my ancient red pickup, avoiding Bella's glance at all cost. Yesterday, stupid Valentine's Day, I'd been just retarded enough to ask Bella on a date. What did I think she'd do? Say yes and jump into my arms, like on one of those wedding videos? No, she said 'no', some family thing all the way in Canada; which actually isn't that far away.

Jessica walked up to me, "Um… hi, Edward." I sort of knew Jessica; I'd seen her at lunch, chatted with her in the hallway. "Well, you know that there's a dance coming up…" She gestured to a banner on the wall- how could I _not _know? "And it's…uh girl's choice?" She finished her sentence like a question, nerves probably- either way I didn't like where this was going, I gulped. "So are you, uh, free that night?"

A lie quickly formed in my head, so I wouldn't have to hurt anybody. "Erm, I have a… thing in Seattle that day." That worked, actually that sounded good, my dad was going on a fishing trip with Billy Black and wouldn't be here for most of the day. "Sorry." I said, she pouted.

"Oh, well, ok bye. I like your shirt," she said as she turned around. I got a text message from Mike a couple seconds later:

"Hey, could u put in a good word 4 me? –M" Huh, I'd been thinking Mike had been liking Bella. Mike, who was by the other building, but still easy to see, gave me a stare and then looked to Jessica, oh…

I reached out to Jessica's shoulder, "Hey, but I heard Mike really likes you." She turned around slowly and I gulped again.

"…Really?" to my surprise she was beaming. "Okay!" she almost skipped off. Another text message a few seconds later, again from Mike:

"Ty –M" I nodded to him, which he might not have seen because Jessica was over there.

Again, I was at lunch, after having time whoosh pass me, Mike was thanking me. "Dude, you have power over girls!"

Eric and Tyler looked at him like he was crazy. "Mike… what the Hell are you talking about…?" Tyler.

"Jessica asked him and he sent her over to me. And now I'm going to the dance!" I looked at them… it was obvious that we all thought the same thing: Big Deal.

"I thought you liked Bella, though." Eric. I chuckled quietly; that's what I was thinking! I got a look from Mike.

"Shut up about it, okay?" Mike said to Eric and then he turned to me. "You know this weekend; it's supposed to be sunny." I nodded, I knew too much about that. "Yeah, so some of us were going down to the rez." Eric's face lit up."

"La Push! You in?" (**AN: ok so I sort of copied that off the movie, whatev's**)

"Am I supposed to know what the Hell that means?" I asked, Mike stared/guffawed.

Eric laughed, and explained more fully: "La Push Indian Rez. You know, sort of by First Beach?" Oh! Yep, I remembered that from when I used to come here every summer until I was ten; I nodded.

"Awesome! We're all meeting at my mom's place, Newtons' Olympic Outfitters, at ten-ish, okay?"

I nodded again; my dad would like me spending time with friends- even though I barely knew them. Bio passed in a slow, awkward, silent haze, like a mute turtle… crawling in peanut butter… on Mercury, dying.

On Saturday I woke up without my alarm, but sun in my face, I was instantly awake, half smiling when I got out of bed and opened the curtains, then the window. Shoot! Bad idea! I closed the window again, as an arctic breeze wafted through the screen- though even that couldn't faze me. When I got downstairs, I flipped on the TV, looking at the clock '7:42' oh yeah, plenty of time. The news was on.

"It is freezing outside right now, folks!" Duh! I rolled my eyes. "But amazingly, it will be sunny today and next weekend in the Olympic peninsula!" My jaw dropped. That was pretty much legendary.

After a while I was in my beat up pick-up driving to Newtons' Olympic Outfitters. "Hey! Swan's here!" I heard Eric shout; I rolled down the window and waved, then rolled it back up.

"Hi guys." I said after my truck was parked. At first glance I saw Tyler, Jess, Mike, and Eric; but then I saw that people were already piling into the car. "Can I call shotgun, or am I too late?" I joked.

Eric 'pffed', "dude, you'll be lucky to fit in the trunk!" He laughed and Jessica giggled, which made Mike chuckle, Tyler made the motion of pointing over to them, them and making the circles near his head; I nodded.

We were soon looking over the ocean, huddling towards a blue fire. "That's really cool, how the fire turns blue with saltwater-logs." I said, a couple people murmured a 'yeah' or a 'sure'.

Suddenly, a booming "Hi People!" came from a Native-American- looking, oh maybe a 16-year-old guy, flanked by two peers. I gave Mike who-the-Hell-is-that look. "Jacob Black." Jacob gestured to himself, -maybe seeing my glance- then to the two others on each side, "Quinn, Embry." I nodded to each in greeting. "Edward, right?" He asked.

"Wow, news spreads like a freaking wild-fire here." I chuckled.

Angela suddenly announced that she and some other guys were going hiking, and soon it was just a few people scattered around the beach, Jacob and I were the only ones left at the fire. (**AN:** **ha ha ha, don't ya'll even THINK about Edward being flirty with Jacob! Sicko-s.**) I had to ask him a question, something that was burning my tongue, most of the most popular people were here, but no sight of the Cullens. "Do the Cullens not come here? I thought they'd be here."

His happy, puppy-dog face (yes, I had to admit it was puppy-dog-ish) turned stone cold, "No, they don't come here." He said simply

"So I'll bet you're a regular around here." I teased, it was pretty obvious.

"Yeah, my family's been here for like, a millennia." He nodded; we were walking down the beach towards a local wood-pile.

"Okay, so you could tell me why there's a huge wood-pile pretty much in the middle of a beach."

"Oh right, well, all the houses here are pretty much as old as my family, so they have woodstoves, only the newer ones have gas stoves. So it's a convenience just to have wood when we need it." He shrugged.

"Hmm that strangely makes sense." In the distance an ominous wolf-howl echoed through the trees.

"Ya know, my family was supposedly descended from wolves." He cocked his eyebrows.

Then he pretty much crash-coursed me on bits of history like the Flood- which imitated Noah's Ark-, their brethren with wolves and law against killing wolves, which somehow morphed into a brief lecture on the 'Cold Ones'.

"So like vampires, right?" I asked, he nodded yes, and a word popped into my head: _Cullens!_

"That's what your people would call them." He said eerily. "There are stories about them back to when the wolves were there, but some also a lot recent," He was probably just telling me these to freak me out, and it was working, even though it was clear that he didn't believe them one bit. After words, he told me how they weren't safe and shouldn't be trusted, and about the peace treaty.

"Wait, wait, you guys have a _peace treaty _with people that you aren't even sure _exist?" _That made him pause, but he regained his composure a moment later, probably hoping I didn't notice.

"Yep, pretty much." He confirmed.

"Well that's nice, now we better go back before the rest of the people think we bailed on them." He nodded in agreement. I was going to look into vampires later…

So sure enough, as soon as I got home I ran right up to my old junky PC and deleted all the crap-mail, closed all the pop-ups,… waited a millennia for it to load, and finally got onto my favorite search engine. "_Vampires_" I typed in… and waited… and waited… and- finally! 13,900,000 hits, I think I'll stay at the first page. I looked at classic vampires, Vlad Dracula-who everyone knows-, Erzsebeth Bathory – who was just a sadistic chick who flipping bathed in blood-

**Equinox: Chapter 4-Parties, BPOV**

The reason I don't usually lie is for two reasons: 1.I suck at it, I never was very good. And I have to carry out a lie, say like if I said that I would go shopping with Alice so she would simply SHUT UP, I actually _had_ to end up going shopping with her!

So it does sort of make sense that I wouldn't lie to Edward because I really do have a family "thing" in Canada on Saturday and Sunday, which I already explained. Two reasons (again) that I wasn't going to stay here and try to live a normal life, 1. My thirst was getting so uncontrollable, so much that not only Edward- but _Mr. Banner _looked good. 2. There was a fox infestation in a smallish town's central park; yum.

Suddenly, Alice freaking screeches in my ear: "You're going to ask him o-out! You're going to ask him o-out!" So I do the sensible thing, I pretend that I'm a normal human.

"What? Sorry, I can't HEAR out of this ear!" I hissed. She simply smiles and then gets that faraway look in her eye. I flick the side of her head, she doesn't bat an eye. I sigh when her eyes un-glaze themselves, "How's it going to happen…?" I ask glumly, although it's finally registering that I might get to spend an afternoon with Edward. She launches into full detail that I don't even pay attention to, if it's going to happen, I'll take things as they come, the only thing I really pay attention to is when she says…

"And OF COURSE he says yes! I mean why… blah, blah, blah, blah." Zoning out….

It was just before school and I decided to ask him out "Hi Edward," It's obviously been stressed between us, so this is probably a shock. "Umm, yeah, so I feel really bad about saying no, so do you want to do some-"

"Oh sorry, I'm not going to the dance." Edward interrupted.

"No, not that, I heard you were going to Seattle." I say, he nodded. "Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go somewhere with me instead?"

"Erm… yeah I guess it sort of depends where…" He mumbled.

"Oh! Right, well… there's this really cool place, it's sort of out of the way, and we have to hike a while to get there, but it's really beautiful." I said. But then, I remembered simple logic: 1. it was sunny that weekend, and the meadow- yes, that's where I planned to take him- was totally open. 2. (and the more important one, I might add) Edward didn't know about my… little problem…. I quickly decided to spill my guts to him at lunch.

All the while I was walking to my first class, I was absolutely _killing _myself for not thinking of that earlier!

* * *

**And that is the end to Chapter 4! (They will be having a "conversation" at lunch, but that's pretty much it aside from possibly doing blood-types) Unless I have a brain-miracle, it will most likely be the shortest chapter, just as this was the longesssssttttt.**


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